South Louisville residents are rallying to honor a woman who devoted her life to education reform.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Cave Hill Cemetery holds countless unmarked graves, but one is now drawing special attention. Nearly a century after her death, neighbors are raising funds to place a headstone for Rosa Phillips Stonestreet, the first woman superintendent of what is now Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS).
Stonestreet became superintendent of the Louisville school district in 1898, serving until 1910. She won the position with a majority vote from men, defeating two male candidates more than 20 years before women gained the right to vote.
“A woman rose to a position of power at that level. I mean, at that time, it was such a rarity,” said Jim Cundy, supervisor of JCPS archives.
Cundy and his team of two preserve the district’s records, including Stonestreet’s legacy. “She found the district’s administration to be corrupt, to be incompetent. We were administered through a trustee system, and JCPS was administered by three trustees, and she sought their removal. She found enormous debt at the different sub-districts around Jefferson County, and sought to eliminate that debt as quickly as possible,” he said.
Stonestreet died in 1936 and was buried in an unmarked grave beside her husband, Charles, who had died decades earlier.
“What I suspect is that Rosa’s husband died very young. He was 28, I think, when he passed away. I think by the time she died, many years later, there just wasn’t somebody that looked out for her in that way,” said Stefanie Buzan, an Iroquois neighbor helping organize the Rosa Phillips Stonestreet Tombstone Fundraiser.
“We decided that it would be a nice civic opportunity for us to do something about a South End woman that spent her whole life here,” she added.
The group of South Louisville neighbors hopes to ensure Stonestreet’s name and legacy are permanently etched in history and on her tombstone.
“Don’t leave them aside, or leave them behind, or ignore them, just because they’re part of a traditionally marginalized community. Doesn’t matter if somebody is a woman, doesn’t matter if somebody’s a person of color, if they’re playing an important role, then honor that,” Cundy said.
JCPS honored her legacy by naming Stonestreet Elementary after her in 1994; the school was dedicated in 1996.
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